The setting sun darkened the vast prairie. The night wind blew and the tall grass swayed with it.
The sound of crickets creaking filled the solitude of the meadow. They do not welcome the coming of the night but give news of the dangers of the mist.
The white mist began to creep slowly filling every land in its path with cold air. He brought with him dozens of mutated animals that woke up and looked for prey that night.
Glittering Meadow that shines brightly in the daytime seems to have lost its glow. The beautiful rippling rivers and providing peace change become hiding creatures in dark water that bring fear.
There was only moonlight illuminating the camp of the monsters that were wrapped like a blanket. Seen, dozens of carriages parked in a circle like a fortress protecting the camp in the middle.
The goblins dug the campground so that it was lower than the rest of the land. With this, they can create natural camouflage with the trains surrounding them. No one dared to light a fire that night. Glittering Meadow is calm and without predators. However, in the Bog forest, no one can be sure if the mutated animals do not go to this place to look for their prey.
Even so, they had camped here for a whole week and strangely they didn't see a single mutated animal roaming around during the day or night. This makes the higher-ups of the monsters wary, there is a possibility that Glittering Meadow is a place that mutated animals don't like because of the presence of poisonous plants that interfere with their sensitive smell.
If that's the case then this won't be a problem, the monsters have Luna and the alraune who have an affinity with plants. As long as they were around it could be said that poisonous herbs would no longer be a problem for the monsters.
However, the second possibility frightens them.
Like a king who has a kingdom and territory, every mutated animal with a level of danger more than the gold tier will have their territory. The territory is their hunting ground and any mutated animals that enter will be considered to be invading their territory. These areas cannot be classified as habitats because they have nothing to do with the availability of food or the array of resources, these areas are formed because of something that has not been understood by humans and even the monsters who have lived in the Bog forest for a long time.
It is because of this that the monsters call these areas The King Territory and the mutated animals that rule them are called The King.
The King Territory is highly respected by mutated animals and if other mutated animals are living in the area then surely they are the subordinates of The King. No one knows the form of submission by the other mutated animals to The King, but they certainly gave The King something to keep them can live in The King's Territory.
The King who allows mutated animals to live in their territory is usually a solitary mutated animal that does not have a colony. The food supply within its territory was more than sufficient for itself so it was not a problem to share it with other mutated animals.
However, The King who has a colony will not allow mutated animals or other carnivorous animals to live in their territory. Usually, they will spread the scent around the borders of their territory.
This scent is very unique and can only be recognized by mutated animals and other carnivorous animals. For herbivores, even the monsters will not be able to recognize this scent and end up becoming prey for The King and his colony.
Glittering Meadow has the characteristics of The King Territory, but this is not known to the orcs because their knowledge of the Bog forest is limited due to the destruction of the tribe and their adult orcs during the mage's pest control. They only learned this knowledge after Hoddurt, Nerphyl, and the monsters who had received this knowledge from their parents saw Glittering Meadow firsthand.
The orcs when they knew this their faces turned deathly pale. Glittering Meadow which was originally filled with many animals is now a place where not a single animal can be seen as far as the eye can see.
The orcs understood The King Glittering Meadow's feelings when he learned of this. It's like a farmer waiting for his coop to be full of chickens but they find the coop empty without a single feather to be seen. The farmer will surely have a grudge against whoever the fox stole the chicken.
The monsters could only hope that The King hadn't thought yet about starting to eat the animals at Glittering Meadow before they found the right route to Wolf Slope Mountain.
Therefore the monsters hastened their investigation by sending more search teams. Each team will have a sylph following them and will be their liaison with the caravan.
Currently, the search team has found 2 routes that they can choose. However, these two routes have pros and cons that make the monsters hesitate. So they waited for Moku to come out of his closed-door training and decide which route they would take.
Three humanoid shadows were seen approaching the camp of the monster caravan. They flew fast and penetrated the darkness of the night as if they could see clearly in the middle of the night. The three shadows are Moku, Goku, and Boku.
Moku landed in the middle of the caravan and was immediately greeted by the monsters that were waiting for him. Among them are Tam, Volx, Ornel, and Nerphyl.
Moku threw the two orcs in his hand towards Ornell and said "Ornel treat these two pussy orcs, when they wake up tell them that we will practice again at dawn tomorrow" Moku snorted in disappointment.
Ornell catches Goku and Boku with her root leg. She saw that the two orcs were already unconscious with their bodies shivering with cold. Their lips were blue and there were many cuts all over their bodies. Their spines and backs were broken like a giant hand were trying to fold their bodies in half.
Before Ornell could ask what Moku had done to these two orcs and why he was torturing them, Moku had already turned his attention to the two goblins and the sylph queen in front of him.
"Tam, Volx, Nerphyl, I've heard the report from Boku. I'm grateful and happy with your initiative to speed up the route search. For the next conversation, we should just do it in my tent. I'm sure there we can talk without being cold" said Moku rapidly.
"Yes, Ku!" the three monsters nodded and answered straightforwardly.
Moku walked first towards his carriage and was followed by the three monsters from behind. "For the rest, I hope you guys rest and wait for my decision tomorrow" Moku gave orders without stopping his steps.
'rest huh? hehehe' Moku laughed at himself in his heart.
He had not slept in almost a month or touched the bed at all. Moku always remembers that rest is part of training. He always takes care of his body condition and sleeps for no less than 6 hours a day. Even though he wants to continue training and strengthen his muscles, Moku knows that the human body has limits and sleep is one of them.
However, after his second evolution, Moku is no longer able to rest. He was required to stay active and do something because the desire to rest had disappeared from his body forever. Moku should have been able to use this opportunity to become stronger but instead of training, he was spending his time taking care of the tribe and the monsters.
He can't even enjoy time with Anna and his new wife Nezena. If the leaders are going to be this busy, then it is only natural that they feel burdened and ask for excessive wages then corrupt the people's money.
Moku laughs at the fate of honest leaders who work sincerely but are still accused of corruption by the people they want to protect. 'heh! in a world full of hypocrisy, an honest person is the same as a hypocrite person, they will end up with extinction until a world full of hypocrisy is created'
They arrived in Moku's carriage. Moku sat cross-legged and ordered Volx to lock the carriage door to prevent cold air from entering.
Moku took the meat that was on the tray in front of him and offered it to the two vegetarian goblins in front of him. A funny joke that will hurt the hearts of vegetarians.
Tam and Volx just shook their heads. However, there was no humiliation in their hearts. For them, meat or plants are food, but sometimes some like to eat vegetables instead of meat just as there is someone who likes salty food rather than sweet.
They don't hide under hypocritical thoughts like it is cruel to kill animals, for them killing animals for their meat is the same as chopping down a tree for its roots or fruit. If someone says plants don't have feelings and are not living things then they should talk about it to the alraune. The goblins also wanted to watch a live show of how the alraune eat.
"well.. Tam, Volx, Nerphyl, now tell me what are the options we have" Moku started their discussion.